Carding machines for textile fibres



Feb. 4, 1964 F. REITERER CARDING MACHINES FOR TEXTILE FIBRES 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 25, 1961 Ptillizlqlli. I

ATTORNEYS Feb. 4, 1964 F. REITERER CARDING MACHINES FOR TEXTILE FIBRES 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 25, 1961 INVENTOR. FERDINAND REITEQER Banmwrmg;

ATTORNEYS United States Patent CARDING MACHINES FUR TEXTILE FIBRESFerdinand Reiterer, Rueil-Malmaison, Seine-et-Dise,

France, assignor, by direct and mesne assignments, to

Whitiu Machine Works, Whitinsville, Mass, 21 corporation ofMassachusetts Filed Jan. 23, 1961, Ser. No. 84,414 Claims priority,application France Feb. 3, 1%0 9 Claims. (Cl. 19-105) The presentinvention relates to carding machines for textile fibres.

It is known that in such machines fibres are brought in the form of afeed llap, or sheet, to a first toothed roller or cylinder known as alicker-in and then to the periphery of a cylinder provided withprojecting parts and called the main cylinder or swift, the latterco-operating with a means called a traveling flat which is substantiallytangential to the swift. After the fibres have been subjected to theaction of the licker-in, the swift and the traveling flat, they arecondensed on a doifer and detached from the latter by a vibratingdofiing comb so as to form a web or fleece and are then gatheredtogether in a sliver by means of a funnel and calenders.

Increase in output and the improvement of the quality of the web orfleece depend, in large part, on the degree of opening of the feed lapand on the cleaning of the fibres effected by the licker-in, these beingpreparatory operations which are essential and of great importance forthe carding proper, effected by the co-operation of the swift and thetraveling flat.

The fibres in the feed lap are intermingled and the opening thereof bythe licker-in must be carried out in such manner that the fibresdetached in continuous fashion by the clothing of the licker-in arecarried to the swift in the form of small tufts of as small a volume aspossibde.

It is necessary, moreover, in order to obtain a clean web and take careof the clothing of the swift and of the traveling flat, that thelicker-in should expel the maximum possible quantity of coarseimpurities such as the remains of leaves, dead fibres, etc. which havenot been eliminated by the scutchers.

The capacity of the conventional licker-in for opening and cleaning thefeed lap is limited because of the very nature of this member. In fact,it is impossible to exceed a certain speed of feed without running therisk of doing harm to the quality of the web.

With the object of improving the efliciency of the carding process,attempts have been made to effect increasing of the speed of rotation ofthe lickerain. This method has not given satisfactory results because,in addition to the mechanical diflicul-ties, the very rough action ofthe teeth of the licker-in weakens and shortens the fibres.

Consideration has also been given to adding one or two worker rollers atthe lower periphery of the licker-in. This arrangement provides animprovement in the disentangling and cleaning of the fibres, but it hasother drawbacks. In fact, since these worker rollers are placed on thelower portion of the licker-in, they are necessarily disposed in'thewastebox and therefore in an atmosphere charged with dust. Moreover,owing to the need to keep said waste box closed, these rollers cannot bechecked visually and the adjustment thereof presents many difficultiesbecause of their poor accessibility.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a carding machine inwhich the disentangling and cleaning of the fibres is substantiallyimproved 'without the drawbacks indicated above.

A carding machine for textile fibres, according to the presentinvention, comprises a feed roller, a main lickerin arranged to receivea lap of fibres from the feed roller,

3,120,030 Patented Feb. 4, 1964 a swift arranged in relation to thelicker-in to receive the lap of fibres therefrom, and at least onesecondary lickerin disposed in the path of the lap of fibres received onthe swift from the main licker-in so as to engage the lap of fibres onthe swift.

Suitably, driving means are provided to effect driving of the secondarylicker-in in synchronism with the feed roller.

The accompanying diagrammatic drawings show, by way of example only, oneform of construction of a carding machine according to the invention.

FIGURE 1 is a general sectional view of a carding machine and FIGURE 2is a view similar to FIGURE 1 showing a form of driving means for thesecondary licker-in.

In the drawings, the reference 1 designates the fluted feed rollerco-operating with the dish feed plate or feeding trough 2 to carry thelap of fibres to the main flicker-in 3. The latter is covered, over itsupper portion, by a protective casing 27, the fluid-tightness thereofbeing ensured by a sealing roller 4. A scraper knife 5 is disposed onthe lower portion of the licker-in 3 to detach the coarse impurities. Aclearing roller 6 provided with teeth is located between the licker-in 3and a secondary licker-in, the latter being designated as a whole by thereference 8. The secondary licker-in 8 consists of an endless flexibleband or belt 9 carrying on its outer surface a certain number of teeth10. On its inner surface, the band 9 carries a certain number of blocks11 which enable it to mesh with two grooved sprocket wheels 12 and 13,one of which is a driving wheel.

The whole of the secondary licker-in 8 is enclosed, together with theclearer roller '6, in a casing 14.

At the exit of the casing 14, between the secondary licker-in 8 and atraveling flat '15, there is a suction chamber 16, an inlet orifice ofwhich is provided with an adjusting lip 17 and connected by a duct 18 toan extractor fan (not shown).

The teeth of the secondary licker-in 8 are preferably finer than thoseof the main licker-in 3.

The supporting means of the secondary licker-in con stituted by thecasing 14 and also its driving mechanism (hereinafter described) arevertically adjustable with respect to the swift 7, so as to enable thedistance between the teeth of the secondary licker-in and those of theswift to be varied.

The blocks carried on the endless band of the secondary zlicker-in andenabling said band to be driven are rigid, being made, for example, ofsteel. The band of the secondary licker-in 8 is arranged in relation tothe swift so that the run of the band adjacent the swift remainsparallel to the swift.

The air set in motion by the swift 7 creates a compres sion between theperiphery of said swift and the band of the secondary licker-in 8 and,owing to the seal ensured by the band, which is impervious, supportingthe teeth, the air compressed in this way can escape only through thesuction orifice mentioned above and this ensures excellent expulsion ofthe dust impurities.

Any fibres which may possibly remain attached to the teeth of thesecondary licker-in are detached by means of the clearer roller 6 whichis provided with projecting teeth and has a circular speed about 5%higher than that of the aforesaid secondary licker-in 8. The fibresdetached in this way are removed from the clearer roller 6 by theclothing of the swift, the circular speed of which is much greater and,as a result, they are subjected afresh to the carding action.

FIGURE 2 shows a form of driving device for driving the secondarylicke-r-in in synchronism with the feed roller.

On the shaft of the feed roller 1 there is keyed a bevel pinion 19 withwhich meshes a bevel gear 20 mounted on one end of an auxiliary shaft21. At the other end of the latter there is mounted a second bevel gear22 meshing with a bevel pinion 23 keyed on the shaft of the drivingwheel 12 of the second licker-in. Moreover, to this shaft there is alsokeyed another pinion 24 meshing with a pinion 25 keyed on the shaft ofthe clearer roller 6. The assembly is arranged in a casing 26.

Of course, any other mechanical connection arrangement between the feedroller, on the one hand, and the driving wheel of the secondarylicker-in and the clearer roller, on the other band, could be usedwithout departing from the scope of the invention. The same applies tothe number and nature of the secondary lickers-in, which could beconstructed in forms other than a toothed flexible band.

What I claim is:

1. A carding machine for textile fibres, comprising a main licker-inarranged to receive a lap of fibres, a swift arranged in relation to thelicker-in to receive the lap of fibres therefrom, and at least onesecondmy licker-in disposed in the path of the lap of fibres received onthe swift from the main licker-in so as to engage the lap of fibres onthe swift, the secondary licker-in comprising a member having acontinuous impervious outer surface with teeth mounted thereon movableclosely adjacent to the periphery of the swift whereby a current of airset in motion by rotation of the swift is confined between the memberand the swift.

2. A carding machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the teeth on thesecondary licker-in are finer than those on the main licker-in.

3. A carding machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein at the end of thesecondary licker-in remote from the main licker-in there is formed asuction orifice which is connected with an extractor fan and serves asan outlet for air and entrained dust from between the swift and thesecondary licker-in.

4. A carding machine as claimed in claim 1, including a feed roller tosupply a lap of fibers to the main licker-in and wherein driving meansare provided to effect driving of the secondary licker-in in synchronismwith the feed roller.

5. A carding machine as claimed in claim 4, wherein the secondarylicker-in comprises an endless band provided on an outer surface thereofwith teeth and on an inner surface thereof with rigid blocks, therebeing provided spaced band driving and driven sprocket rollers engagedby the blocks.

6. A carding machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is provided atoothed clearer roller disposed between the main and secondarylickers-in which serves to remove fibers from the secondary lickcr-inand return the removed fibres to the swift.

7 A carding machine as claimed in claim 6, wherein driving mechanismassociated with the clearer roller is adapted to drive that roller at orapproximately at 5% above the speed of the secondary licker-in.

8. A carding machine as claimed in claim 6, including a feed roller tosupply a lap of fibers to the main licker-in and wherein the secondarylicker-in and the clearer roller are driven from the shaft of the feedroller through an auxiliary shaft one end of which is geared to the feedroller shaft while the opposite end thereof is geared both to thesecondary licker-in and the clearer roller.

9. A carding machine as claimed in claim 6, wherein the secondarylicker-in and clearer roller are disposed within a common casing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,759,563 Arnold May 20, 1930 2,241,151 Miller May 6, 1941 2,600,969Clapperton June 17, 1952 2,683,901 Griswold July 20, 1954 2,879,549Miller et al Mar. 31, 1959 2,908,046 Ohnishi Oct. 13, 1959 FOREIGNPATENTS 363,817 Great Britain Dec. 31, 1931 793,488 Great Britain Apr.16, 1958

1. A CARDING MACHINE FOR TEXTILE FIBRES, COMPRISING A MAIN LICKER-INARRANGED TO RECEIVE A LAP OF FIBRES, A SWIFT ARRANGED IN RELATION TO THELICKER-IN TO RECEIVE THE LAP OF FIBRES THEREFROM, AND AT LEAST ONESECONDARY LICKER-IN DISPOSED IN THE PATH OF THE LAP OF FIBRES RECEIVEDON THE SWIFT FROM THE MAIN LICKER-IN SO AS TO ENGAGE THE LAP OF FIBRESON THE SWIFT, THE SECONDARY LICKER-IN COMPRISING A MEMBER HAVING ACONTINUOUS IMPERVIOUS OUTER SURFACE WITH TEETH MOUNTED THEREON MOVABLECLOSELY ADJACENT TO THE PERIPHERY OF THE SWIFT WHEREBY A CURRENT OF AIRSET IN MOTION BY ROTATION OF THE SWIFT IS CONFINED BETWEEN THE MEMBERAND THE SWIFT.